Training horses requires the use of the three p’s – patience, persistence, and positive reinforcement. It is necessary to understand these basics before attempting to teach your horse to do what you would like. Following these basic tips will provide the foundations of a great relationship between horse and rider. A well trained horse is also less of a liability to as a horse insurance policy holder.
Let’s start with patience, as that may be the most important quality in a good trainer. Patience will be needed each time you want to teach your horse anything new. Horses are prey animals and they know it well. As the sun sets, watch horses in their pens or pasture. You will notice a herd gathering for safety into their group. They can be observed standing side by side and head to tail. Standing like this helps them to spot potential danger from different directions. You will notice if you watch a horse unfamiliar with water a simple hesitance or even dangerous raring up. Both could be seriously hurt or worse. Therefore, it is imperative that your horse be trained with much patience and that he learns to trust you not to take him into a situation that could be dangerous.
Horse and rider can develop a mutual trust and a confident partnership when due patience has been employed in training. It can come as a surprise to some that it is possible to reduce a horse’s fear when presented with alien objects or situations. A shirt flapping in the breeze on a washing line could represent enough of a threat to a horse to scare him, however silly that may sound. If you can gain your horse’s trust through patient training, he will respond to your relaxed approach to the evil flapping laundry and will walk by without incident.
Persistence will reap great rewards in horse training. Repetition when practicing your exercises helps to build trust and confidence between horse and trainer. Horses and riders need to begin with the seemingly tedious ground work employed by professional trainers. Doing the ground work, after all, does not mean getting up and riding off. But the horse trainer can see that horses are just the same as babies learning to walk. The basics of polite and safe behaviour must be grasped by a horse before being tacked up and ridden; just like a baby who needs to learn how to first sit up, crawl and only then start walking.
It will take persistence with each and every task for your horse to understand what to do. Your horse will need to know just what is expected. For example, your horse needs to know to always stand still for you when you bring out the tack. For your horse this is not natural. Persistence will be required here, as this needs to be taught. Ensure that you are more persistent than your horse. Stay consistent even if he runs off at your approach; if you give in to him just once he will try to do the same again and again. Consistency is another word which may be used in place of persistence.
Positive reinforcement is perhaps the most valuable tool you possess as a trainer. Most horses love to please you and they should see you as the herd leader. Lifelong friendships can be developed between horse and rider where each understands their role in the relationship.
Positive reinforcement can be very simple gestures or words of approval, of making your horse feel appreciated. A horse will easily sense your emotional state. Let the horse know when you are happy with the way a training exercise is going.
A word of warning here – it is not wise to enter the training area with your horse if you are particularly angry or stressed out. Your horse will sense your mood and may decide not to cooperate. This has less to do with rebelliousness and more to do with the horse’s fear. The horse may not know you well enough yet to predict your behaviour when upset and could be wary of you because of this.
The ultimate goal in horse training is to build a bond of trust between the horse and rider that will make for an unbeatable team no matter what event or type of riding you wish to pursue. These horse training basics stay the same whether you choose to ride simply for pleasure or in competitions, in either English or Western riding style. The 3 p’s principles – patience, persistence, and positive reinforcement – can be applied to any breed of horse for a successful training experience.
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